Babysitter Trouble
by AmariSanshelle
Summary: Ron agrees to babysit Amari as a favor to Ginny. But what starts as an easy responsibilty, turns into a disaster. Can Ron cope? COMPLETELY REPOSTED!
1. 1: A Harmless Favor

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the content herewith that you may find in a Harry Potter Book. **

**A/N Okay, I totally reposted EVERY CHAPTER. It's the same storyline, but i added stuff, took stuff out... I think it's better than it was. I hope you do too! Thanks! R&R please and thanks ;)

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Chapter one – A Harmless Favor

Ron Weasley wasn't enjoying himself as his sixth year at Hogwarts crept by. The only time he wasn't doing homework was Quidditch practice, which he only liked once in a while, and when he was in class, of course. The only thing that made this year bearable was that he did everything with his best friends, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger.

Sure, Hermione finished her homework before they did and made elf hats, but she would read over their work and fix their mistakes. Her pickiness was an advantage, although it annoyed Ron when she'd overreact when he mislabeled a potion or mispronounced an incantation, but all in all, she was really helpful. Harry didn't really help out as much but he made it fun for Ron, being as social as he was.

In the middle of October, after a Quidditch practice with a very violent Bludger, Ron's sister came up to him.

"Ron? Can you do me – well my friend – a favor?" Ginny asked. She was twisting her hands nervously as though worried he might decline.

"Well, what's the favor? What friend?" Ron questioned, eyeing her suspiciously. He wondered what could be so important that she needed to ask him.

"Um, you know Michael Corner? We're still friends – but that's all!" she added at the look on Ron's face, "It's not him, exactly... It's his cousin in Ravenclaw – Avila – she's on the Quidditch team and got hurt." She paused. "Please accept, Ron!"

Ron looked surprised at this second attempt of asking him. "Just tell me what I'd have to do – Remember, I'm in sixth year! I have a lot of work to do!"

"Oh, yea you're in _sixth year_!" she said sarcastically, "YOU don't have OWLs!! We're in fifth year – we're busy too! We can't spare as much time as you can running after a five-year-old who –"

"A five-year-old? That's what I have to do? Take care of a five-year-old?" Ron interrupted – Ginny was like her mother, who had to be stopped in mid-rant.

"Yea, can you? Please? You don't need to buy me anything for Christmas!" she added, trying to guarantee a yes. "If you don't, I-"

"Alright, alright! I'll do it," he didn't want to hear her threat, "on one condition. You have to buy me a good Christmas present this year." He smiled. He was of course going to help her from the beginning, but he can always get some profit out of it!

"Oh yea!! Thank you so much, Ron!! I'll get Mum to make you a different colored jumper this year, how's that? Okay, her name's Amari. She really wants to make sure Avila's okay and watch her Quidditch matches. Plus, she's muggle-born and she's really miserable being surrounded by muggles. She's coming in two days." Ginny said. Her face completely lit up when he agreed. "Maybe Hermione and Harry can help you."

"No prob, Gin. I've gotta go have a bath, I'll see you Saturday, at the latest. By the way, have you ever met this kid?" Ron added.

"Nope. See you later Ron!" she said, heading off toward Griffindor Tower.

"Hey, Hermione," Ron greeted, thinking of the best way to tell her about Amari without pushing another of her many buttons. He found her in the library after his bath.

"Hello, Ronald," she said back, putting her book down, looking bothered and angry. Then she smiled, "I'm just kidding! You should have seen the look on your face!" she said, laughing. It was true: he looked at her as if she was a giant spider and he was the prey.

Ron sighed, "You wanna help me with something Saturday?" he asked, giving her plenty of time for her to answer him, or question him. He knew he had to give her enough time to think it all through to keep her calm – no rushing girls!

"Sure, I have plenty of time, just... what are we going to be doing?" Hermione asked, interested and curious.

"Well it's not _only_ Saturday, it _starts _Saturday. It's a long-term project, I suppose..." Ron said, carefully saying each word. When Hermione looked at him expectantly, giving him a look that says 'continue'. "Well Ginny's friend's cousin – Avila Corner in Ravenclaw – her sister's coming here to watch her Quidditch matches and to make sure her injury's okay. So, I agreed to take care of her so all the fifth years that might have been involved can do their OWLs."

"Wow, that's so thoughtful of you!" Hermione said admiringly. "Sure, I'll help! How old is she?"

"Um... I don't remember..." Ron said truthfully. He really didn't remember! He racked his brains "I _really _don't know!"

Hermione laughed, "That's okay! I'm sure she's not too young!" Little did she know, Amari would be considered tooyoung to her. She had baby-sat before, but just her eight-year-old cousins. Boy, was she going to be surprised! "Come on, let's go find Harry... Maybe he can help out," she suggested.

Ron nodded and said, "he probably had his own bath already, we can probably find him somewhere in Griffindor tower doing homework or something."

"Most likely. I hope he's starting Slughorn's essay – it's due tomorrow. I don't know how the "Half-Blood Prince" is going to help him this time," Hermione scowled. She didn't approve of Harry's new potions' book or of her being outdone in potions for the first time.

"You have to admit, he has helped. The Prince –" Ron started.

"How do you even know that this person is a guy?" Hermione interrupted.

Ron rolled his eyes, "Princes aren't girls!"

They kept arguing until they reached the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Hinkypunk Lantern" Ron said, cutting Hermione off.

"Sorry, it's been changed," replied the Fat Lady.

"What? When?" Ron gasped, "I'm a Prefect! Why don't I get informed?"

"Because, Ronald, you we're playing Quidditch. It's 'Coffee Stain'." Hermione glared at him.

They both stepped into the now open portrait hole. Sure enough, Harry was sitting in his armchair by the fire, homework propped up on his knees. He didn't notice them entering. Ron put his pointer over his mouth to make sure Hermione was quiet. He tiptoed behind Harry and grabbed his shoulders with a loud "BOO!"

Harry jumped so much that Crookshanks, who was sitting by Harry's feet, ran under the couch and Harry's homework dropped off his lap and all over the floor. Ron was on the ground, holding his sides, laughing and Hermione was smiling.

"H-hey, Ron" Harry said, catching his breath and clutching his heart.

"You should have seen the look on your face, Harry! It was priceless!" Ron said, after recovering from his laughing fit.

"Yes, it was funny, Harry..." Hermione said, giggling just a little.

"We're going to have a guest in two days – want to help us take care of her?" Ron asked, far less cautious than with Hermione.

"Sure, who is it?" Harry asked.

"Ginny's cousin's... no… Ginny's friend's sister... um..." Ron tried.

Hermione laughed. "Ginny's friend's cousin's sister. Ginny's friend Michael Corner's cousin Avila's little sister, Amari."

"Show off... But yea, I agreed when Ginny asked me to do it. Want to help us?" Ron said, gesturing to Hermione and himself.

"Just because I'm able to remember even the simplest things that you can't doesn't make me a show off! I just pay attention to detail! Of course, you're not-"

"Okay! I get it! You're better than I am at that, satisfied?" Ron said, annoyed at her continuous ranting. "But yea, Harry she's just a little girl – no problem, right?"

"Right – there's nothing we can't handle!" Harry said, laughing. "I just finished Slughorn's Acromantula essay, can you look it over, Hermione?"

Hermione took his copy. "You can get Acromantula venom from the brain, too – not only from the mouth. The eyes can also be crushed and the hair can be used in wands – Ollivander doesn't use it, but people engaged in the Dark Arts might. Other than that, it's all okay." She said after reading it and handing it back.

"Thanks, Mione. Ron, how old is this girl, anyway?" the question was lingering in his head since Ron mentioned her.

"I dunno… I seriously don't remember!" Ron said again, angry with himself for forgetting. "Let's ask Ginny if we see her before Saturday."

"Ask me what?" Ginny just walked in, towel wrapped around her head and bathrobe secure on her newly showered body.

"How old is the little girl we're going to baby-sit?" Hermione asked before the boys had the chance to.

"Amari? She's five. Ron knows, why didn't he tell you?" Ginny asked, looking at Ron angrily.

"I… forgot." The redheaded boy said, ears matching his hair. Hermione looked at her, jaw dropped.

"Five?" Hermione breathed, "I thought she'd be like eight or something, but five? That's way too young! How can her parents let her come down here? Five! That's completely insane!"

"Hermione, don't worry, Avila's really nice – I'm sure Amari's fine!" Ginny reassured her panicky friend.

Hermione was in a bad mood the next day – so much so that she didn't answer any questions in class or even reread Ron and Harry's homework. The boys didn't understand why – she didn't have to baby-sit!

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**A/N Hope you liked it! And btw, dracos-soccerstar, you're not the only one who wants someone to update!! R&R :)**


	2. 2: Amari

**I don't own Harry Potter... Etc. Good enough :P Read on, faithful readers, read on:)

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Chapter two – Amari**

Finally, it was Saturday. They were all expecting Amari to show up around noon, in the Hospital Wing by floo powder. Hermione and Ron were beside Avila's bed, talking to her – Harry was taking a private lesson with Dumbledore.

"So, what does she like?" Ron asked Avila.

"Well, she started gymnastics last year and she can read just about any book." She answered.

"What are gymnastics?" Ron demanded, perplexed.

"It's where someone flips over and stuff… it's really cool, maybe she'll show you – she's really good." The injured Quidditch player said. A Slytherin watching jinxed her broom then an over-confident first year tried to fix her broken leg and demented it. There was nothing left in her leg – no bones, nerves, veins or muscles.

Madam Pomfrey had trouble fixing her leg. Her bones re-grew the night before like Harry's had in second year, but the other missing elements were having trouble coming back. So, Avila had to stay there for a while.

"Is she well behaved?" Hermione suddenly asked.

Avila looked away from Hermione and at the fireplace, "Look! There she is!"

Sure enough, a little soot-covered five-year-old girl stepped out of the previously green fire.

"Avila!" she screeched, running to her sister's side, "I'm all dirty now, but that was fun!"

"Yes, you are! Look at my sheets!" she said, laughing – there was a little black handprint on them now.

"What's this? Soot on my sheets??" Madam Pomfrey was rushing over. She performed a cleaning charm on Amari, who was as clean as if she had just gotten out of the shower.

"Thank you, ma'am!" she said, curtseying. She was wearing short pink shorts with a matching tank top, silver heart necklace and hair accessories. Her blue eyes and blond hair went so well with her attire, she looked almost angelic. She was fiddling with her locket; turning it around in her fingers, moving it along the chain, et cetera.

"Wow, Amari I like your outfit!" Avila said. "Oh! I almost forgot! This is Ron," she pointed at Ron, "And Hermione," she gestured toward Hermione.

Amari smiled, "Hi!" she rubbed her stomach, "I'm hungry!"

"We can bring you to the Great Hall – we have tons of food here," Ron said. Hermione's mood lifted instantly. Amari was too cute!

"Bye, Avila! I'll come visit later!" Amari called as she put her arms up toward Hermione. She wanted to be carried. Hermione lifted her up and settled her on her hip.

"Bye, Amari! Wow, Hermione, she must really like you!" Avila said, waving.

"So, I heard you could do gymnastics, huh?" Hermione said to the little girl resting on her hip, slowly bobbing up and down while Hermione walked.

"Yep. I'm the best one in my class! I have a trophy at home," Amari said proudly.

"What do you do in gymnastics, though? I don't get it!" Ron complained. Amari giggled.

"I can't do gymnastics on an empty stomach!" she laughed. Ron would have told anyone she was a little angel – an easy responsibility, he thought.

They settled at the Griffindor table and started eating.

"Ron, eat properly today, please?" Hermione requested, seeing as he always stuffed his face and made a complete mess of himself.

"Fine," Ron sighed, "What do you want to eat, Amari?"

"Um, can I have something healthy?" she responded, looking at everything with awe.

"Do you eat healthily because you're a gymnast?" Hermione asked sweetly.

"My teacher gave Mommy a list of food and it's on the fridge. Mommy always reads it so that I can eat healthy!" she said proudly. "I'll never get fat now – like him!" she pointed at Neville. Neville was a bit porky, but he wasn't really fat.

Neville, who was listening in, looked away, Hermione giggled and Ron coughed on his pumpkin juice. "That's not very nice…" Ron said, coughing.

After supper, Ron piggybacked Amari up to Griffindor Tower. "Password?" the Fat Lady asked.

"OOOH! Can I say it? Please?" Amari begged. Hermione told her the password in her ear. "Coffee Stain!" Amari told the painting.

They clambered through to find a Harry-less common room. "Tomorrow you can meet Harry, okay? He'll probably get back after your bedtime." Hermione told the little girl petting her cat. "That's Crookshanks, my kitty."

"Hello Crookshanks. I'm Amari, nice to meet you!" she said, shaking the cat's paw.

Just then, a bunch of Griffindor girls came in. When they saw Amari, they squealed with delight.

"Aw! She's adorable!" Lavender said.

"I see she got here without any problems! I'm so glad you guys are watching her!" Ginny told Ron. "Where's Harry?" she added.

"Lessons with Dumbledore" Ron said.

"Michael talked about her like a little monster, is she well-behaved?" Ginny asked Ron – Hermione was talking to Lavender and the other girls had already gone to their dormitories.

"She's been great! She's like a little angel! Maybe it's just because Corner's her cousin…" Ron reasoned.

Ginny shrugged and followed the other girls up the staircase.

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When Harry got back, Amari was sleeping with Crookshanks, thumb in her mouth, by the fireplace. Ron was sitting on the couch with Hermione, listening to the magic radio quietly.

"Hey guys," Harry said, "I'm back."

"H-h-h-h-hey, Harry," Ron yawned.

"I'm tired, I'm going to bed – we should all go now. Where do we put Amari?" Hermione cut in, looking at Amari.

"Maybe we should put her in the boys' dorm – after all, we can't get into the girls' and she is my responsibility." Ron suggested. Hermione was too tired to object.

"I'll conjure her a bed, you bring her up." Hermione ordered.

"She's cute," Harry said quietly as she saw the sleeping Amari that Ron was carrying. He rather liked little kids and babies, too.

Hermione conjured up a bed between Harry and Ron's and Ron rested Amari under the covers.

"'Night, Ron, Harry." Hermione left. The boys changed into their pajamas and went to bed.

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The next morning, Amari jumped on Ron yelling, "Ro-o-o-on! I'm HUNGRY!" and woke all the boys up.

"OW!! Geroff, Amari – It's six in the morning! On a Sunday!" Ron said, turning around and hiding his face under the pillows.

All the boys groaned as she screamed shrilly. When Ron got up, she smiled and went into the bathroom to change. The boys pulled their hangings back to change as she came out of the bathroom, through the dorm and into the common room.

Hermione was running down the stairs after hearing Amari's scream. "Are you okay?" she panted.

"Yea, I'm okay – Ron wouldn't get up then he said that I'm stupid!" she lied, eyes filling with fake tears, looking down and playing with her locket. She'd always do so when she was sad or embarrassed. Hermione looked shocked.

When Ron came down, Hermione went up to him and poked him in the chest. "You called her stupid?" she screeched.

"What? NO! I-I never called her –" Ron stuttered.

"Yes, you did! Don't lie! You hurt her feelings! She's five, for goodness sake! Go apologize or something!" she yelled, getting red in the face. Amari looked up and stuck her tongue out at Ron behind Hermione's back.

"But- but she just- I" he fumbled. He rolled his eyes and went to the newly sobbing Amari. "I'm sorry," he said through clenched teeth. She wiped away her 'tears' and smiled.

"I forgive you. Do you want to see some gymnastics?" Amari offered.

Ron glared at her. "Fine."

She started doing what she learned. She did somersaults, cartwheels, handstands, splits and a front flip. For a girl her age, it was really impressive! Ron understood gymnastics now, but wasn't excited for Quidditch, Harry was tired and irritable and Hermione was still angry with Ron.

Hermione wasn't watching the practice. She was showing Amari the castle. She was just passing the dungeons when Professor Snape came out.

"Miss Granger, what are you doing? Shouldn't you be outside?" he asked her.

"I'm showing Amari the castle, sir. I was meaning to talk to you about Thursday's essay…" She kept talking about the essay and they were talking for a while. While they were talking, Amari saw someone walking down the hall. Bored, she decided to follow the footsteps.

She kept following the person when, suddenly, the footsteps died around the corner. She looked around that corner and saw Draco Malfoy looking at her, wand raised.


	3. 3: It's What's on the Inside That Counts

**Chapter Three – It's What's on the Inside That Counts**

"Who are you? Why are you following me?" Malfoy asked threateningly.

Amari decided on telling the truth; he couldn't harm a little girl! "I'm Amari," she decided on saying, nervously playing with her locket.

"Why are you following me?" he repeated, eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Well, I was with Hermione because Ron is playing Quidditch, but she started talking to a freaky man with black hair. It was really boring, so when I saw you I wanted to meet you." She said truthfully.

Malfoy could tell that was the truth – five-year-olds would do that. He lowered his wand, smiling. "You know Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger?"

"Yep! And Harry and Ginny and Avila and Michael... Why?" Amari asked.

Malfoy was having a party inside his head. This girl could be a spy for him! "Ron and Hermione and Harry are really mean to me. I just wanted to get them back once, at least, for all the times they got me."

To his surprise, Amari had an evil smile on her face. "I can get them back for you! I was just thinking of something… Do you know what Duct Tape is?"

"Is it that gray-silver sticky stuff muggles use? The kind that's really hard to rip?" he knew what it was, but he had to make sure! After all, his muggle knowledge was mediocre.

"Yep! But I like Hermione. But I don't like Ron. And Harry, well, I don't know yet. I'll get Ron for sure and maybe Harry, okay?" she said, counting off the trio on the fingers.

"Okay, that's okay. Here's," he produced a roll of Duct Tape out of thin air, "some Duct Tape. Get 'em good!" he winked.

"Amari? AMARI? Oh, where is she? AMARI?" Hermione called. Malfoy ran around another corner and Amari crouched down, pretending to cry. She could win an Oscar!

"Amari! Oh, thank goodness you're alright!" Hermione exclaimed when she found Amari 'crying'.

She didn't say anything. She let herself be picked up and carried away, back toward the Griffindor common room full of chatting Quidditch players and spectators. The two girls headed toward Ron and Harry, who were talking about Quidditch in their armchairs.

"What's wrong, Hermione?" Harry asked when he noticed her worried expression.

"It's my fault. I'm sorry, Hermione, I was just bored! I didn't want to get lost!" Amari exclaimed.

"You ran away from her? I think she needs to learn a lesson." Ron said, grounding in mind.

"Ron, no. She was lost and crying when I found her – I don't think she'll want to do it again, right Amari?" she asked motherly. Amari shook her head.

"Do you want to go see the squid? He lives in the lake – he's really nice!" Harry suggested. Amari smiled and nodded.

"Does he do tricks?" Amari asked when they were nearing the lake.

"If he likes you," Harry made up. He really wasn't sure if he would or not, but at least its an excuse to keep her well-behaved. He gave her some bread to give the squid.

"I thought squids eat fishies?" Amari said, observing the bread. She started throwing it in without waiting for an answer and a tentacle rose up, then another, and another… The wiggly limbs entertained her while the trio talked under their tree.

"I don't think she likes me…" Ron said.

"Well you can't call her stupid!" Hermione replied.

"I didn't! She was so lying!"

"She was crying! People can't just cry!"

"You can't believe I would actually call a five-year-old girl stupid!"

"You seemed in a bad enough mood to!"

Harry rolled his eyes and let them bicker. He walked over to Amari. "Having fun?"

She was laughing as the tentacles tickled her, "I like the Giant Squid! Does he have a name?"

"Hagrid might have named him, but you can give him your own name, How's that?" Harry suggested.

"His name is … Bob!" she said, still being tickled – Harry never saw the squid tickle someone before; maybe 'Bob' could tell she was five. Harry chuckled.

"Can I fly on your broom?" she asked suddenly.

"My broom might be kind of fast for you… maybe you should go on Ron's first." He said.

"Can I go on Hermione's too?"

"She doesn't have a broom. Only some people do. Come on, we'll go now." Harry took her hand and they went over to where Ron and Hermione were sitting. They weren't bickering, but they weren't talking to each other either.

"Ron, can you take Amari around on your broom?" Harry asked.

Amari was smiling angelically on the outside, but on the inside she was laughing evilly – she knew how to fly and she could cause serious damage to Ron on a broom.

"Sure, but why can't you take her on the firebolt?" he asked.

"I think it would be too fast for her…" Harry replied. "Accio brooms!"

Harry and Ron's brooms soared out of the castle into Harry's hands.

Ron mounted his. "Get on in front of me so I can make sure you don't fall. Try not to lean too much." He ordered her. Hermione walked forward.

"Are you sure that's safe?" she asked, biting her lip.

"Nothing can happen – I won't go that fast! Don't worry Hermione!"

Amari climbed onto the broom and held on tight, waiting for Ron to go high. They kicked off.

"Higher!" Amari yelled. Ron went higher. "Higher!!" Amari yelled again. She kept saying higher until they were higher than the Quidditch goalposts. 'This is high enough' she thought.

She suddenly jerked the handle down: the bottom went up and hit Ron hard… somewhere. She leaned to the right and they started spinning. Ron started feeling nauseous and fell off only when she flipped the broom upside-down. She pretended she lost control of the broom.

Harry and Hermione were arguing on whether it was safe and only looked up when they heard Amari screaming. "Harry! Ron's falling and Amari's lost control!" Hermione squeaked.

"I know!" he said angrily, kicking off and heading as fast as he could toward Ron. He grabbed Ron's forearm and he stopped suddenly about ten feet off the ground but slipped out in Harry's haste. Ron was going slower thanks to Harry's grab, but he still hit the ground with a sickening crunch. Harry headed off straight away toward Amari.

"Pull back gently to make it stop!" Harry yelled. She was screaming too loudly to hear. Hermione was firing a spell to make things slow down, but she accidentally hit Harry. He was now going very slowly toward Amari, who was going full speed.

"Hermione! Help me get up… need… hospital… wing…" Ron said. He had landed on his arm in an odd way and had the wind completely knocked out of him. If Harry hadn't slowed him down, much worse would have happened.

"But what about them?" She said frantically, waving toward the two riders in the air. It was either she help Ron to the hospital wing now and risk Amari and Harry having injuries, or let Ron wait in agony while she saves Amari and Harry. She did the only thing that was in the middle: she sent up red sparks and hoped someone would see them. Luckily, they were right by North Tower and Hagrid's Hut. Professor Trelawney and Hagrid both saw them. Professor Trelawney messaged Dumbledore through her fire and Hagrid came running.

"Hermione? Ron? 'Arry? What's goin' on?" Hagrid asked.

"Hagrid, it's awful! Ron fell off his broom and got hurt, Amari's still on it, but she's out of control and I slowed Harry down by accident and I'm worried they'll collide now!" Hermione started to cry.

"I'll bring Ron to the 'ospital wing…" Hagrid said, spotting Ron on the ground. He picked the groaning boy up and headed off toward the castle, passing Madam Hooch on his way that was rushing out, broom in hand.

"What's going on Miss Granger?" Madam Hooch demanded. Hermione was in hysterics. She pointed in the air where Amari was simply holding onto the broom, leaning on the handle to seem like she was out of control. It was convincing!

"What happened to Mr. Potter?" Madam Hooch interrogated.

"I-I-I t-tried t-to s-slow her do-down!" Hermione responded through sobs.

The Quidditch referee nodded and mounted her broom. She sped off toward Harry first, wand withdrawn. She muttered the counter-charm and Harry joined her in getting Amari back down. They didn't realize, but she purposely evaded them.

"I can't stop!" Amari screamed.

"Pull back!" Harry yelled, trying to catch her. Finally, Madam Hooch knocked her off painlessly and Harry caught her.

"Ron's not a good flyer – he fell off and left me alone!" Amari complained.

"He's a good flyer when he flies alone… let's go check on him." Harry said as an answer.


	4. 4: Duct Tape

**Chapter Four – Duct Tape**

"It was her fault! She totally did it on purpose!" Ron said when he was out of the hospital wing. It took one night for him to get out; Madam Pomfrey insisted he stay.

"She was out of control! She was probably just scared!" Hermione told him. "It's never your fault, is it? She's just another person to blame, is she?" she scolded.

Amari was watching the argument with Harry.

"They're like an old married couple, eh?" he joked. Amari laughed. She decided she liked Harry now, but she still wanted to make Ron's life a living hell. She kept her duct tape in her locked trunk. She wanted to strike before the next Quidditch practice. After all, it was that day.

"Hey, Ron! How's your babysitting job going?" Ginny asked Ron at breakfast.

"I don't think she likes me – unless she's just evil…" he answered her.

"Oh, nonsense! She a perfect little angel! Anyways, you can't expect her to like you if you call her stupid and go so high on a broom only to fall off! What were you doing to fall off like that?"

"She is NOT an angel! She lied about the stupid thing and she threw me off the broom! AND it was her who wanted to go higher! I'm the one who broke my arm!" he said angrily.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Sure, Ron. Where is she anyways?" she looked around and couldn't see her.

"I left her with Harry and Hermione," he said, before taking the advantage of the little girl's absence to stuff his face.

"Where's Amari, Ron?" Hermione just sat down next to him with Harry – no Amari in sight.

Ron choked on his eggs. "I left her with you!"

"NO, you didn't!" Hermione said.

"I'll get her… I need to get my Quidditch robes anyway." He got up and sprinted up the stairs up to Gryffindor Tower. Amari was waiting for him, duct tape in her pocket, in his dormitory.

"What are you doing? You were supposed to go with Harry and Hermione!" Ron scolded her.

"Ron, I just wanted to apologize about everything… I got you a present!" she fibbed, "Close your eyes and hold out your hands – it's a surprise!"

"Really? Thanks, Amari…" he closed his eyes and stuck out his hands as he was told. Gullible much?

He heard the noise of tape ripping (which was Amari unraveling the duct tape) and said, "What's that noise?" without opening his eyes.

"I had to put it in a box so you wouldn't see it and so it won't break. It's all taped up and I have to take it out now," she rehearsed that a hundred times.

When she was satisfied with the amount of duct tape she pulled off the roll, she quickly wrapped it around Ron's outstretched hands. "ARRRGH! What are you doing?!" he yelled, falling backwards when she jumped on him. She cackled evilly, pulling more duct tape off the roll and placing it over his mouth.

"I'm not evil, totally. I don't like you – or Michael. I like him more, though…" she kept laughing and taped his ankles together. He was doing his best to escape, but he only rolled a foot before she caught him again and he couldn't make any noise.

"Aha!" she said, when she found his wand in the back pocket of his jeans. "You need to find a safer place to put this! I was reading a book before you got here," she smiled, "did you know that you can stun a person by magic?" he opened his eyes wide and tried to roll away.

"Stupefy!" she cast confidently, pointing Ron's own wand at him. If he had been conscious, he would consider her a mini-Hermione. She succeeded after one try! She took a piece of paper and wrote magically:

_To Harry Potter, _

_I have the little girl. Send me an owl where you want to meet me to get her back. Bring your firebolt whenever we go. Freedom isn't free! No teachers, or else._

_-Draco Malfoy_

Amari smiled her evil little smile and took Harry's Invisibility Cloak from his open trunk. She knew what it was, seeing as she had one at home. She locked Ron in her trunk.

She stalked out of the room, head held high, under the Invisibility Cloak. She went through the empty common room, through many hallways and into the Great Hall. She went to the Slytherin Table and found Malfoy.

"Draco! Pst!!" she whispered, poking his back.

"What? Who's there?" he whispered the last part.

"It's me, Amari," she stuck her head out of the cloak for a couple seconds then retreated into it again. "I got Ron back for you, and Harry's gonna believe you kidnapped me," she added.

He pointed into the hallway and went out of the Great Hall. Lots of people were starting to leave, so it wasn't conspicuous. She took off the cloak in the dungeons.

"You didn't say anything about that!" he said angrily.

"Well, to make the note I left convincing, I told him to mail you a note saying when and where to meet him to get me back… with his firebolt. I hope that's okay!" she informed him.

"I'm really starting to like you. Where is Weasel bee?" Malfoy asked, smirking. He could get a firebolt out of this!

"He's locked in my trunk. I had to take his wand and I had to get him out of the way! He had it coming!" she giggled.

"And where are you supposed to go? I don't have anywhere to hide you!"

"I'll hide under the Invisibility cloak… Are there any problems? I can go let Ron out and hide the note! Nobody's seen it yet… I think…"

"No, no! I think you'd be a good Slytherin, kid." He ruffled her hair. She smiled proudly, even though she didn't really know what it meant. "We just have to wait for Potter to get the note and send me his own. Lay low now." He told her. She nodded and turned invisible again.

"I wonder when he'll find the note?" Amari wondered.

Just then, Neville came running into the Great Hall, waving the said note in his hand.

"Harry!" he said, catching his breath, "I found this in the dorm!" he handed Harry the note and the Boy who Lived read it in his head and gasped.

"Where's Ron?" he asked Neville. Neville shrugged. Harry gave Hermione the note and ran to Gryffindor Tower. What had happened to Ron? Why didn't he come get him?

He blasted through the dorm door and looked around. "Ron?" he whispered.

Ron had woken up a few seconds before, taking until then to register what had happened. He heard his name from somewhere outside the trunk he was locked in. He reacted like anyone would – he started kicking the trunk, making as much noise as possible.

Thump, thump, thump. Harry looked over and found the source of the noise. Amari's trunk was moving.

"Alohamora!" Harry opened the trunk to find a duct taped Ron scrunched up inside. "What happened?" all he got for an answer was "Mmmph!"

"Oops, sorry," he ripped the duct tape off his mouth.

"OW!! Jeez Harry!" Ron exclaimed. "The little devil did it!"

Harry rolled his eyes. "If you mean Malfoy, I know. He left a note saying he kidnapped Amari. We can't find her so it has to be true!" Harry told his still unable to move friend.

"What? It was Amari! She attacked me! Look! Why would Malfoy use muggle things?" he said, holding out his hands.

"What if he used the Imperious Curse?" Hermione asked – she had just walked in. "Oh my God! Ron! Are you okay?" she had over to him and started ripping off his bonds.

"Ouch! Hermione! OW! That hurts!" Ron whined.

"Well, if this hadn't happened, it wouldn't hurt, would it? You got locked into a trunk by a little girl with duct tape!" Hermione scolded. "I should just leave your hands as they are," she only finished undoing his ankles.

"Hermione! Are you saying this is my fault? How was I supposed to know she had duck tape?" Ron yelled.

"Ron, it's duct, duct tape. You guys have to stop fighting! We have to get Amari back!" Harry ordered, releasing Ron's hands.

"What note?" Ron asked, rubbing his wrists. Hermione handed him the note Amari wrote. "Your FIREBOLT? He's insane! Greedy little…"

"What else can we do? There's no knowing what he'll do! We have to get her back! Actually, YOU have to get her back, Ronald. She is your responsibility!" Hermione said. "We should do a trade in – I'm sure Malfoy would much rather have you as a prisoner!" she was so angry that Ron couldn't tell whether or not she was joking.

"Well, what do we do? We can't afford another firebolt!" Ron said, frustrated.

"Well, what if we made sure Amari was safe then tell a teacher?" Harry asked.

"He will have thought of that – he's not stupid, Harry. He'll do something to prevent it. There's no way out!" Hermione cried.

"Well, let's write the note. Maybe we'll think of something by then." Harry said dismissively with a sigh.


	5. 5: Captor to Captive

Chapter Five – Captor to Captive 

Tap, tap, tap. Malfoy looked up to see a snowy old with a little note clutched in its beak. He let Hedwig in, took the note and shooed her away again. He read:

_Meet me by the North Tower stairs at midnight tonight. Don't hurt Amari!_

_-Harry Potter_

"You're really mean! You tricked me!" Amari said, crying. He had been satisfied with the fact that he was getting a firebolt – and he couldn't risk anything. When did anyone question him being in Slytherin? So, he had tied her his bedpost to keep her out of his way.

"Shut up. I just want to get a firebolt. Anyways, you wouldn't let me cut your hair if you had a choice…" Malfoy retorted with a smirk on his face. He had indeed cut her hair to make Polyjuice potion for Crabbe. He didn't want anything to go wrong. Her hair was more than an inch shorter – Crabbe needed a large supply, just in case.

"I don't like you anymore!" she screamed.

"I know. I have the bite marks to prove it." He gestured toward his bandaged hand. He had attempted using scissors, seeing as he'd be able to cut it a lot straighter if he did, but she bit him hard in frustration. She loved her hair – but she regretted doing so. He had then taken out his wand and cut her beautiful, long hair unevenly.

Malfoy was having the longest hours of his life. She screamed and cried and kicked the ground for a straight hour. His head was aching worse than ever. When he got completely fed up of the noise, he went over to her to fasten a piece of material over her mouth. The result? A sore stomach and a bloody nose on his part. Her legs were flailing relentlessly.

"Would you stay still?" Malfoy hissed. He pointed his want at her. "Either stop screaming, stop moving for me to make you stop, or I'll stun you, and you won't enjoy it."

She immediately stopped kicking and stared, wide-eyed, at his wand. She then stopped screaming and cried silently.

"Time to go, Crabbe." Malfoy said after another couple of hours at quarter to midnight. Crabbe drank his potion and turned into Amari. The real Amari couldn't believe her eyes. She was tied to a bedpost, but she was going with Malfoy to get him a firebolt. She confused herself, thinking too hard.

Harry was waiting on the stairs. Ron was hiding behind a statue and Hermione was in a nearby broom cupboard, both relatively far from the meeting point. Harry was holding his broomstick, hoping he wouldn't lose it.

The plan was relatively simple, but it was the best they had. Hermione would disarm Malfoy and Ron would jump out and grab Amari. They had been thinking about a plan all day, not concentrating on anybody else or doing any schoolwork. That was their first plan and it ended up sticking. Hermione, especially, was angry with herself for not being able to think of anything.

Harry was feeling sick. What if it didn't work? What if Amari wasn't brought to safety? What if he lost his firebolt? He didn't know his priorities anymore. He looked over at Ron, who was peeking out of his hiding place. Footsteps sounded down the hall and Ron snapped back into hiding.

Hermione was looking through the keyhole of the broom cupboard. She saw Malfoy, Amari and Goyle. _Where's Crabbe? _She thought. Usually he was with them. She didn't think too much of it.

"Potter." Malfoy greeted in a less than friendly voice. He was clutching Crabbe's newly transformed arm. A magical glow surrounded the 'little girl's throat. Malfoy had cast a charm so that the new Amari couldn't speak unless he removed it. Nobody else could, except him. After all, Polyjuice potion didn't alter voices.

"Malfoy, give her here," Harry said right away, nodding toward who he thought was Amari.

"I don't trust you to hold up your end of the deal, Scarhead."

"That makes two of us."

"Put your wand on the ground."

"What?" Harry didn't believe this. It didn't interfere with the plan, but he hadn't expected Malfoy to distrust him that much. He didn't even think of asking that of Malfoy. "You first."

"Fine, at the same time." Malfoy took out his wand.

"Expelliarmus!" Hermione jumped out of her broom cupboard and Malfoy's wand flew out of his hand and he got thrown backwards. Ron jumped out and grabbed the little girl's hand.

"Filthy little mudblood!" Malfoy spat, pulling out another wand, smirking.

"What?" Ron stared in disbelief. He clutched Crabbe closer, not knowing he was holding the wrong person.

The real Amari had kicked off her sandals and was trying to stretch and bend unnaturally to escape. Her toes were trying to reach the abandoned scissors near the next bed over. The tips of her toenails were grazing the handle. Every time she was short of her target, she would wiggle and try to slide down. She couldn't see her arms under her bonds, but they were red from rope burn.

"Come on…" she ushered herself. After another good wiggle, her big toe got on top of the handle, curled, and she pulled it towards herself. "Yes!"

She kept sliding the scissors toward her hands. They snagged on the carpeting and flipped over, opening, and she slit her toe. She instantaneously started to cry. With her other foot, she closed the scissors, slipped her toe through the hole and bent her leg as far back as she could, finally getting a grip on them.

She began ferociously snipping at the ropes, filling steadily with adrenaline as footsteps could be heard outside the door. With one gigantic slicing, she broke free. Her tear-stained face broke into a smile as she got up and rubbed her arms. _Knock, knock, knock. _

"Are you hungry in there?" Pansy Parkinson was on the other side of the door. Amari didn't know why, but she didn't come in right away.

"N-no" she stuttered through sobs. Her toe hurt. A lot. Her arms were red raw and something was poking into her side. She looked down and pulled out the cause of the disturbance. Ron's wand!

"Are you sure? You were in there for a while…" Pansy sounded extremely motherly to the smart five-year-old. "Do you mind if I come in?"

Amari's heart started pounding with newfound adrenaline. She held out the stolen wand with shaking hands, Stupefy coming into her mind.

"I want to leave…" she whined.

"Well, I can't let you go, but I can keep you company and get you food. I'm coming in." the door opened and Pansy stepped in, shocked. "Where did you get a wand? How did you get free?"

"It's Ron's wand. Draco left scissors on the ground. My toe hurts!" she added.

"I can fix your toe, but I can't let you leave. I'm so sorry!" Pansy's eyes were filling with tears.

"What's the spell? I want to learn it, please." She liked Pansy. Pansy wasn't mean to her – she wouldn't be to a little girl.

"It's Immendo. It can go wrong, though. I don't know if you should…" she was remembering when Gilderoy Lockhart had tried it and sent Harry Potter to the Hospital Wing.

"Immendo!" her toe mended itself right away. Pansy's jaw dropped as the little girl, once again, succeeded in her spell casting with one try. "How do I leave?"

"Everybody's sleeping… just go down the stairs and the common room door is behind the couch. You can't miss it." Pansy whispered, winking and returning to her bed.

Hermione jumped out of her own hiding place and went to help her friends. Ron couldn't find his wand and was shielding the fake Amari in the corner. Harry was keeping his broom behind his back, wand pointing at Malfoy, who was pointing back. Goyle was approaching Ron's corner, fists clenched.

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" Hermione got Goyle. She turned on Malfoy. Without sparing a thought, Malfoy turned and hit her with the Cruciatus curse.

She screamed, wriggling in pain. Harry jumped into action automatically. "STUPEFY!" Harry both wanted as much power as possible to go into his spell and he also needed to yell to hear himself. Malfoy flew a few meters down the hall with the force Harry put into his spell.

"Hermione!" Ron rushed forward with the Amari impersonator in his arms.

"I-I'm o-okay…" Hermione was shaking so badly, her wand lay on the ground, unable to be held by its owner.

"Breathe, Hermione. It's okay. It's over." Ron comforted her, putting his burden down and hugging her.

"Mobilicorpus" Harry levitated Malfoy and Goyle into the air and started to head toward the hospital wing. "I'll just bring these to the hospital wing. Come meet me there so we can tell Madam Pomfrey."

"Alright, we'll be there soon."

The real Amari ran full speed through the halls, not a clue where she was going. Ron's wand lit and in hand, Harry's Invisibility Cloak draped over her arm to stay out of the way. She was in the Entrance Hall without knowing how she had gotten there. Her legs had just carried her there.

"Students are to be in bed at this time," a male drawling voice called from around the corner. Someone heard her bare feet slapping the ground as she ran. Panicking, she threw the Cloak over herself, unfortunately dropping her lit wand in her haste.

Professor Severus Snape came around the bend, only to see a spot of light disappearing into nothingness. "Who's there? I know you are there."

Amari didn't like him. He scared her and was in Slytherin. She had seen him talking animatedly to Malfoy during her stay at some point. She tiptoed into the Great Hall. The doors were already open and the whole hall was vacant. She settled herself in the Headmaster's chair – the most comfortable and the biggest there – and fell asleep using Harry's inherited Cloak as a blanket and sucking her thumb.

"What are you doing up? It is nearly one o'clock in the morning!" Madam Pomfrey scolded, but she still set the unconscious boys up in the beds.

"We're sorry, Madam Pomfrey, but Malfoy kidnapped Amari! We had to get her back!" Harry explained.

"We?"

"Yes, Ron and Hermione should be coming soon. Hermione is recovering from the Cruciatus curse."

"Amari, dear, what happened?" the witch asked the supposed Amari, who had come with Harry.

There was no answer, thanks to the spell Malfoy had cast.

"I could explain and Amari can nod or shake her head to say if it's true…" Harry suggested. "But I don't know everything. Ron knows more than I do, but Amari knows everything, of course."

"Maybe we shall wait for Mr. Weasley, hmm?"

"I'm here," Ron entered with a slightly calmer Hermione behind him.

"Take this potion, Miss Granger. Mr. Weasley, could you kindly explain what happened?" the flaming woman gave Hermione a calming draught and eyed Ron with interest.

Ron sat down and explained everything to Madam Pomfrey.


	6. 6: The Project

**Chapter six – The Project**

"Miss Corner? Amari?" Dumbledore had come down at six in the morning to breakfast – he had woken up late.

The Headmaster was going to sit down in his chair when he noticed a bodiless foot there. He had then pulled an Invisibility Cloak off of a little five-year-old girl – Amari was occupying his seat. She rubbed her eyes and slowly sat up. She only opened her eyes after she stretched.

"'Lo" she mumbled hoarsely. Her throat hurt from the crying and screaming from the night before and anyways, she had just awoken. Even though she wasn't introduced to Dumbledore, she couldn't be scared of him. He was too calm, too gentle and, in her opinion, he looked funny. She didn't know why, but he seemed comical.

"Why aren't you sleeping in your bed?" he asked friendlily. He was now sitting in Professor McGonagall's chair beside his, making some coffee.

"Draco was mean and doesn't like Harry and Ron and Hermione. He tricked me, I'm sorry!" she started to cry again.

"What happened?" Dumbledore insisted, still as nice as ever, patting her back.

She shook her head. "I'm hungry." Dumbledore didn't push the matter – she didn't want to talk about it and he had heard her stomach rumble.

"Have some breakfast, I can hear your tummy!" he said, pushing new plates of food toward her. She giggled and tucked into her meal.

* * *

Crabbe had slept in the bathroom, locking the door, so he didn't blow his cover. Nobody had noticed, everyone was sleeping and be woke up before they saw him. He drank his potion and was Amari again.

"Amari, get out! I need to go to the bathroom!" Ron whined, hopping outside the door. The occupant came out and he rushed in, ready to wet himself.

Harry woke up at the door slamming. He sat up so fast, his back cracked. "Ow… Hey, Amari, want to go eat now?" A nod answered him. He wasn't surprised she was up – she had fallen asleep in the hospital wing the night before. To his knowledge. Crabbe just hadn't wanted to blow his cover.

They were among the first people in the Great Hall that morning. But when they entered, they gasped. Amari was sitting at the head table, talking to Dumbledore and nibbling on a chocolate chip muffin. But, Amari was also walking alongside them, holding Ron's hand. They walked up to the front of the hall.

"Professor, I think we have a problem here…" Harry started.

"That's not Amari." The girl sitting in the Headmaster's chair said. "I'm Amari. That's a boy that drank potion."

"How do we know, though?" Ron was thoroughly confused, but that happened often.

"This Amari hasn't talked since Malfoy gave her to us. Her throat was glowing." Harry informed the wizard in front of him.

Dumbledore took out his wand and muttered something nobody could catch. The fake Amari's throat glowed red. "This will not work. We will need Mr. Malfoy to remove it. Professor Snape" he called.

"Yes, Headmaster?" Snape walked over to his caller. The real Amari would have flinched, or whimpered, or ran away, but Dumbledore and Harry's presences were both comforting.

"We need to talk to Mr. Malfoy."

"I will be right back."

After a couple minutes, Draco Malfoy entered with Professor Snape. He looked very miserable. He had gone home from the hospital wing, angry he didn't have a firebolt, but that anger vanished as he remembered Amari in his dormitory. He had gotten a lot angrier as he discovered she had escaped. All he found was bits of rope and the scissors – bloodstained and dulled.

"Mr. Malfoy, would you please explain this to me." Dumbledore indicated both Amari's.

Malfoy scoffed and rolled his eyes. "I do not know these girls."

"Professor, ask Madam Pomfrey! We told her the whole story last night! He kidnapped her!" Ron almost shouted.

"He did, sir!" Amari said.

"I would like you to return the power of speech to this little girl, please, Mr. Malfoy."

Even Malfoy couldn't disobey such a direct order from the headmaster. He waved his wand and Crabbe's throat now glowed green. The spell was lifted.

"Aren't you gonna talk?" Ron said menacingly. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he was worried for Amari despite her being 'evil'.

Crabbe stared at the group. The jig was up and he knew it. He sat there quietly – his hour was almost done. He jumped at Ron's question and shook his head.

"I told you so." Amari said as her clone started to expand into Crabbe.

Ron and Harry watched in surprise as the transformation occurred. Snape looked emotionless and indifferent and Malfoy was scowling at them all.

After an hour of questioning and detention giving, Malfoy, Crabbe and now Goyle, were completely miserable and Ron and Harry were relieved and happy – Amari was safe, Harry had his firebolt and Malfoy had lost a lot of points and time as detention. It was already a good day and it wasn't even 8 o'clock!

Hermione rushed in just before 8:00. "Harry, Ron, Amari! I heard all about this morning!"

"How? We just stopped talking fifteen minutes ago!" Harry said.

"You didn't see Lavender? She was listening the whole time!" Amari said.

"You saw me?" Lavender came over when she heard her name. "Did you know Dumbledore's giving us a project? Just our year, 'cause fifth and seventh years have OWLs and NEWTs. I don't know anything about it though, they weren't talking about what it was, only that they would give information out at supper."

"Gossip much?" Hermione asked sarcastically.

Lavender giggled. "I didn't listen in on purpose," she said angelically, but they could all tell she was kidding.

"I need to go to the bathroom," Amari whined suddenly.

Both Harry and Ron looked at Hermione expectantly. "I'm eating! You can bring her!"

"We're not girls!" Harry and Ron said at the same time.

"I'll go," Lavender said, rolling her eyes at the boys with Hermione. "You could have just waited outside!" she said, before grabbing Amari's hand and running to the bathroom.

"Is she gone?" Ron asked. He grinned and shoved everything he could into his mouth. He sat back, mouth extremely full, trying to chew it all. He sighed a muffled sigh of content and savored the moment.

"That's gross, Ron," Hermione said, trying not to smile. She thought it was funny how happy he was to be able to choke - which he did in his second overlarge mouthful.

Harry responded so quickly he was like a robot. He performed his well-practiced heimlich. Finally dislodged, the egg shot into Ron's plate. Ron thanked Harry and looked questioningly at Hermione. She was laughing.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. I just forgot how funny it was to watch you choke…" Hermione said, before laughing again at the look on his face. "I was joking, Ron."

Ron cocked his eyebrow at her and scowled over her shoulder. At a glance, she discovered Amari had come back. She laughed.

"I wonder what the project is?" Harry snapped Ron back into the real world. He shrugged.

"Beats me. Anyways, why should we care? A project can't possibly be _exciting_."

"Projects are always exciting! Things are only boring when you make them that way!" Hermione said. "You just don't care enough for it to be exciting. I do, and that why I got so many Outstanding OWLs."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. We have potions with the Slytherins first thing. How can that be _exciting?"_

"It's always exciting… just not in a good way. It just isn't fun!"

"If you say so, Hermione" he said exasperatedly.

They got there with as little time as possible to spare so they didn't have to run into the Slytherins without a teacher nearby. They took potions with Slughorn and, surprisingly, didn't get held up by Malfoy or any of the Slytherins. They went through classes as usual until Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid said they had to raise their own pets he would give them and that Dumbledore was going to go more into detail. They spent the lesson learning picking their creatures' names out of a basket and learning vaguely how to take care of them.

Except the Golden Trio. They hadn't gotten a pet. They had to take care of Amari. With Lavender.

There were groups of four and five, so Lavender came with them. Parvati was stuck with Seamus Dean and Neville with a Niffler, much to Parvati's displeasure. Amari liked Lavender, so there weren't any problems that way.

They sat together at dinner, all five of them, awaiting Dumbledore's announcement. The word had gotten around, so it was very unnecessary when Dumbledore stood up.

"Would all sixth year students please stay behind while the others leave? I shall take only a few minutes of your time."

Fifteen minutes later, all the fifth and seventh years had left to do their mile-high piles of homework and most of the younger years had left, seeing as the project wasn't their business. All the sixth years were still there, snacking, or talking, or just sitting there.

Ron and Harry were betting different foods on how fast Amari would fall asleep.

"I bet two hotdogs that she'll fall asleep before Dumbledore makes his speech," Ron said, putting two hotdogs on a plate full of bets. They were hardly paying attention to who won. They were just bored.

"Mashed potatoes that she won't," an extra glob of potatoes.

Professor McGonagall tapped her glass with her spoon. The anxiety was so high in the hall that many necks cracked in turning. Dumbledore stood up.

"Hagrid has given you all, with one exception," he looked at Amari's group, "a different creature. The project will be to take care of your chosen pet in your own house, on your own property. We will also be giving you a magically created baby doll. It will act like an infant and need to be taken care of like one. Your responsibility will be tested on how well you take care of the pet and the baby – but there will be assignments. Your Head of Houses will explain when they show you to your quarters."

McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout and Snape all stood up to bring their students to their 'quarters'.

"Please follow me," Was all McGonagall said to the Griffindor students. They happily obliged, except Parvati, who was in an extremely bad mood and obliged solemnly. They all followed their teacher up to the fifth floor, where there were two doors.

"Who is living in here?" one door asked.

"The door's talking!!" Amari screeched, pointing at the faces that popped out of the doors.

"It's okay Amari! It's magic, remember?" Lavender comforted the little girl that just grabbed on to her cloak.

"Let's start with this room, shall we?" McGonagall said.


	7. 7: The Houses

**Chapter seven – The Houses**

They opened the door with a female face on it. "Don't forget to close me on your way out!" she called. They all gasped.

"It's amazing!" Lavender breathed. They walked into an obviously magical room. It was as big as a whole world, as if it was, in and of itself. There was grass everywhere and the ceiling was like the one in the Great Hall – they could all see the sky. There was a double-story house a little ways in, a swing-set in front, a forest behind and a little pond in the front yard.

The house was made of dark wood paneling and black shingles, window frames and doorframes. The door was a dark red mahogany with a brass doorknob with a balcony sticking out in front of it. They didn't hesitate to head for the door.

"Whose house is this, Professor?" Hermione asked, blocking the doorway.

"It's yours, Miss Granger. And of course Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss Brown and Miss Corner will live here. All your things are here and each room can be changed to your personal liking. The nursery for your baby – yes, you will get a baby Mr. Weasley – is set up, as are all the other rooms. The baby is sleeping and will awake at 8:00 tomorrow morning."

Ron groaned. He didn't like the idea of having a baby _and _Amari. "Can we go in now, Hermione?"

"No, Ron we'll just look at it from the outside." Hermione said sarcastically, rolling her eyes and opening the door. They stepped into the living room.

The carpet was scarlet and the couch was red leather. There was a black metal fireplace and the walls were lined with several bookcases full of books. Hermione immediately checked the books out.

"There's everything here!" she exclaimed. "Do you like reading, too, Amari?"

Amari had followed Hermione to the bookcases and was looking at the spell books. She did still have Ron's wand with her. Ron hadn't realized. "I think magic is cool. I want to do magic, too."

"Speaking of magic, you would need a wand to perform it!" Ron said angrily, finally realizing. "Do you still have my wand?"

"Oh, yea…" she sighed, "I put it away – I'll give it to you later." She didn't want to give it back.

"Shall we continue the tour?" Professor McGonagall interrupted Ron, who was going to say something. They all eagerly peeked into the kitchen. Lavender was the most amazed this time.

The kitchen had stainless steel everything! The fridge, stove, pots, pans and taps were shining. The counters were black marble and the cupboards and drawers were made of an almost black wood with silver knobs and handles.

"I can cook here for you guys! I love cooking!" Lavender said, going through the drawers and cupboards, looking in the fridge and testing out the water.

"I can cook, too…" Harry muttered.

"Who else can cook?" Ron asked. He couldn't. Parvati, Lavender, Harry and Neville raised their hands. Nobody expected Neville to. "You can cook, Neville?"

"Well, I can bake…" Neville turned bright red.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, Neville! I think it's wonderful!" Parvati comforted him. She just really wanted him to make her treats.

"Where's the bathroom?" Amari asked.

"There are two bathrooms. One is down the hall, the first door to the right, and the other is upstairs." Professor McGonagall informed them. Amari went into the bathroom and squealed. It was pink! The toilet seat was pink with little white flower patterns on it that matched the shower curtains. She pulled them back and saw a lot of bath toys. They were probably for the baby.

She looked in the cupboards for a couple seconds before closing them again, not finding anything interesting. She finished her business and washed her hands twice as long as usual with the raspberry foam there was for soap.

"Oi! Are you drowning or something in there?" Ron banged on the door.

"I'm coming!" Amari dried her hands on a fluffy pink towel and exited the bathroom, hitting Ron's nose on her way out. She sniggered.

"Ouch! Oh, no! _Pink_?!" Ron gasped.

Everyone looked in the bathroom quickly and headed upstairs. The first room they entered was labeled _Ron and Hermione. _

"We're sharing a room?" Hermione gaped before entering.

"At least it's not pink." Ron said.

The room was all red and gold. There were two large beds in the room – if they slept together, two more people could sleep in there too. Their trunks were at the end of their beds and they each had a kind of blocked off cubicle in the corners to change behind. There was also an end table for each of them with clocks. There was one big desk against the wall with two chairs.

"Does that mean Harry and I are sharing rooms?" Lavender asked.

"What about us? Who do I have to share with?" Parvati asked, worried.

"You will see when we get there, Miss Patil. I did not choose – it was a random decision." Professor McGonagall told her. Parvati sighed, looking at her group.

"What's your room like, Harry?" Hermione asked him.

"Let's go see!" Lavender said. They went into their room and it was identical to Hermione and Ron's.

"It's so _plain_! I'm redecorating later!" Lavender said. Harry rolled his eyes then jokily mouthed 'help me' to Ron. Ron snorted and Lavender smacked Harry upside the head.

Amari screamed. They all ran into her room, panicking. "It's PINK!"

They all laughed, even McGonagall.

Amari's room theme was Barbie. She had a whole corner of Barbie things and all her room had pink things. There was a pink bedspread, canopy, walls, carpeting, mini bookcase, dresser and end table. "I love it!"

"Have you noticed something? Amari's room is beside ours and the baby's is beside Harry's!" Ron said from the hallway. He had to step out of that room.

"The baby's our priority, then?" Lavender asked cheerfully.

"Of course. Ginny did ask Ron to take care of Amari, so it only makes sense!" Hermione said. Harry groaned.

"What about us?" Dean asked.

"You have the Niffler, remember?"

"Come look at this nursery!" Ron called from the baby's room. He seemed to want to keep as much distance as possible between himself and the pink room.

"It's blue… I'm guessing we got a male baby…" Lavender muttered sadly.

"The door's not labeled… Do we name him?" Harry inquired. McGonagall nodded.

"EEEEEEEE! Can we name him Caleb? Please, Harry?" Lavender asked. The two reminded everyone else of a couple naming their own baby.

"Sure, I can't think of anything else," Harry said.

"He's so cute! He looks so real! We should go shopping for him, Harry!" Lavender fawned.

"If you say so," Harry sighed.

The nursery had blue colored everything. There was a blue crib, changing table, curtains, blankets and even blue diapers! There were different toys – blocks, stuffed animals, little musical instruments, everything!

"At least babies can't cause trouble… I'll trade you!" Ron asked Harry.

"Sure, Amari hasn't done anything to me, yet…" they both got a smack in the head from their respectful partners.

They took a quick look in the bathroom. It was the same as the one downstairs, except it was yellow with green leaf patterns.

"About birthdays," McGonagall took out a piece of paper from her pocket and checked it, "Mr. Potter and Miss Brown's baby's birthday is the 24th of each month and Miss Patil's is on the 3rd." Their teacher headed out the door, waiting for the 75 male group to come to their property.

"Do you want to come see our house?" Parvati asked as they were leaving.

"We'll come see it later – we are neighbors!" Lavender answered, hugging her friend. "Good luck" she added, looking at Neville, Seamus and Dean. Hermione and Amari we're looking through books together and Harry and Ron were setting up a chess set.

"Anyone hungry? I feel like cooking…" Lavender said.

"We just had dinner!" Hermione retorted.

"Well I'll bake cookies then. We'll have dessert."

"I'm in!" Ron said.

"Are there any easy spells in the books?" Amari asked.

"Well, this is the first of the Standard Book of Spells, it's the easiest." Hermione said, "I'm going to read this one." She picked out a potions book and sat with Amari on the huge couch.

"Cookies are ready!" Lavender cried out a while later. Harry and Ron had already played two games of chess – Ron won two – and Hermione was on her second book. Amari had fallen asleep again. Ron got up the fastest.

"What kind did you make?" Ron asked, already in the kitchen.

"Don't take any yet – they're too hot! We're going to each have an equal share!" Lavender slapped Ron's outstretched hand with her spatula. "Harry could you help me? Ron is bothering me!"

Harry jumped up, bored already. "Come on, Ron!" he grabbed Ron's arm.

They ended up fighting each other on the floor, Ron having tackled Harry right away. They weren't doing serious damage, but they woke Amari up and she was laughing.

"The cookies are cool enough now if you two want any!" Lavender practically yelled.

"Gerroff, Harry! Cookies!" Ron said, kicking Harry off. Amari was laughing so hard she couldn't eat her cookie properly.

"You two are lucky the baby won't wake up today," Hermione warned.

"Hermione's right, boys! We'll have to be quiet when the baby sleeps from now on. Oh my god! What are we going to do about the baby? We can't leave Caleb alone while we're at school!" Lavender fretted.

"We're still _at school_…" Harry said. Lavender glared at him.

"That's not the point!" she sighed, "At least tomorrow's Saturday. We can organize things tomorrow."

"Ron! That was my cookie!" Hermione said as Ron took a cookie from her plate. Ron smiled a cookie-filled smile and everyone laughed. Ron knew now that it wasn't going to be as bad as he thought.


	8. 8: The First Morning

**Chapter Eight – The First Morning**

Harry woke up then next morning at 8:00. The baby woke up.

"Lavendeeeerrr" he whined. "Get the babyyyyy."

"His name's Caleb, Harry." Lavender said after stretching and yawning. She pulled open the crimson curtains and flooded the room with light. "Good morning to you too."

"G'Mornin" he mumbled from under his pillow. "_Caleb_ is still crying…"

"I'm going, Harry," she said after a solid glare toward him.

"Hello, Caleb! You are so cute!" Lavender said, picking up the sobbing baby. She would have sworn he was real. "Are you hungry? Let's get you a bottle!" she said in a high voice, rocking Caleb in her arms.

"Lavender, can I come?" Amari came out of her room.

"Of course, why wouldn't you be able to?"

"Magic thing on the stairs…"

Lavender looked at the top of the stairs. There was indeed a magical gate there. She pressed a button that both Amari and Caleb wouldn't be able to reach and it disappeared. She pressed the button several times to try it out then headed down the stairs when Caleb started to cry again.

"Amari, can you do me a favor and pull the high chair out to the table?" Lavender asked sweetly.

"Need some help?" Harry asked, seeing her trying to balance the baby on her hip and prepare a bottle at the same time. Amari was scratching the floor with the highchair.

"It's heavy!" Amari said, giving up on her task. Harry lifted it up with ease and placed it at the table. He then took their baby and put him in the chair.

"Thanks, Harry," Lavender said, while fussing over the bottle.

"Should I go wake Ron and Hermione up?" he asked, looking at Amari, whom was absentmindedly playing with her locket, staring into space. Lavender nodded.

"Do you want to wake them up with me?" Harry asked Amari. She smiled her evil little smile – which Harry didn't see – and ran upstairs to Ron and Hermione's room. She tiptoed in and climbed on to Ron's bed.

"Hermione? Wake up, you'll want to see this!" Harry woke Hermione up first. She woke up right away and looked over at Ron. Amari started jumping.

"Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey! Wake up, Ron! You missed Quidditch practice!"

"WHAT?!" he woke up so violently, he fell off the bed. He was fuming, but the others were laughing.

"You really shouldn't sleep on the edge like that, you might fall off." Amari said, looking down on Ron from the bed.

_Ding-dong,_ a magical doorbell filled the room, cutting Ron off – who was, again, going to retort. Amari ran downstairs with Harry to answer the door.

"Hi, Parvati," Amari greeted. "What's your baby's name?"

"This is Jamie, Amari. Isn't she cute?" Parvati asked, hugging the baby in her arms. Seamus was standing behind her.

"Is Lavender here?" she knew the answer, but she had to be polite.

"Why don't you let them in, Amari?" Harry said.

"Come in!" she jumped at the question. She was staring into space again and hadn't realized she was blocking the doorway.

After the babies' breakfast, Lavender set up some baby toys and let them play together in the living room while she and Parvati made bacon and eggs. Amari continued reading the spell book she had fallen asleep to the night before in her room. She locked her door and practiced some spells.

"Amari?" Ron was knocking on her door.

"Yes?" she stuffed the book under her bed and spread out her Barbies. She came and unlocked the door.

"Can I come in?"

"Okay…"

He closed the door. "I heard what you were doing, and I want my wand back."

"But…" Amari sighed. "I can do magic!"

"Well so can I! I need my wand! For class!"

"It's no fun without a wand, though! Can I borrow it sometimes? Please?" she begged.

He didn't want to say yes, but she did have his wand and he was defenseless. "I guess, but only sometimes. I need it most of the time, but you can use it if I'm watching you. I want it back right now, though."

She reluctantly handed it back. "Promise?"

"Promise."

They went back downstairs together, somewhat at peace. Amari was upset, though. She went to Hermione.

"Can we go play on the swing set?"

"After breakfast, hun" she said. "Lav's almost finished the eggs."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Are you fond of promises?" Ron asked.

"My daddy only promises if he can, so I know if it might not happen."

"Breakfast!" Parvati called from the kitchen. They all took a plate and sat down on the couch or on the floor. Hermione and Ron ended up fighting over the last seat on the couch and Hermione sat on Ron.

"This spot's good for me!" Hermione said, laughing.

"Hermioneeee Get offfff" he whined. She still laughed and she sat on the armrest.

"Lavender? Can I sit with you?" Amari asked the cook.

"Sure," Lavender picked her up and settled her on her knee. "Now. What are we going to do about classes? We can't bring the babies, but we can't all stay home!"

"Well one person from each house can stay home. The babies like each other and are calm together, so it might be a good idea for them to go to one house. By the way, how's your house, Parvati?" Hermione said. They could always depend on Hermione for these things.

"Our house is exactly like yours, except Naomi's room is pink and we have one less room. Our Niffler is driving me mad! It attacked my earring yesterday and I needed to block off the kitchen this morning so it wouldn't take the cutlery. You are so lucky!"

"Back to the point, I like Hermione's idea. Who's going to stay first on Monday?" Ron asked.

"I will" Parvati and Lavender volunteered. They then giggled at their simultaneous behavior.

"Do I have to come or stay behind?" Amari asked. "Because I don't want to go to class!"

"I guess you can stay… If it's okay for the person who stays home…" Hermione said. "Lavender, Parvati, can you two take care of her and the babies on Monday? If you're not, she can come. Amari, you might need to come sometimes, okay?"

"Of course! The more the merrier!" Lavender said cheerily, tickling Amari.

"Yaaaay!" she said, laughing.

"Harry, take the dishes, would you?" Lavender requested.

"Why me?"

"Because me and Parvati cooked and I said so."

"Fine," Harry took everyone's plates and cutlery to the kitchen and put them in the sink. "Do I have to wash them too?"

"Leave them there, I'll clear them later. I learned some cleaning spells and different spells that could help us with the house. I can take care of cleaning." Hermione said.

"Are we going to play on the swings now?" Amari asked. She was bored of talking.

"Of course, Amari. I did promise!" Hermione said. She flopped onto Ron's lap again, knocking the breath out of him, before getting up. Amari giggled and they all headed outside.

They hadn't looked closely at the swing set the day before. It had two baby swings, five normal swings and a small slide. It wasn't very fancy, but it was big. Before long, Naomi and Caleb were swinging and laughing in their swings with Seamus pushing them with a sour look on his face.

Amari was climbing on the bars and Harry, Ron, Hermione, Parvati and Lavender were sitting on the swings. They weren't swinging; they were just talking.

"I love this project! We get to be so independent and I feel like a mom! Naomi's so precious… Oh no! What will happen when the project finishes?" Parvati said, close to tears. "We'll just… lose the babies? It will be like having a true child and she'll _die?_"

"Oh, Parvati don't think that! Just enjoy the time you have with her! It'll be okay!" Lavender comforted her crying friend.

"W-Wouldn't that b-be t-terrible?" Parvati sobbed.

"Dying is sad, whoever it is that dies. We shouldn't be thinking of something so depressing, Parvati!" Hermione tried to cheer her friend up. It was working, but that conversation was depressing Harry. Death definitely wasn't his favorite topic. His eyes watered, but he held in his tears. His parents and Sirius, who had been the closest thing he could have to a father, were now clouding his thoughts.

"I need to go to the bathroom." Harry got up and went into the house. Only Ron and Amari heard him – Ron nodded and Amari just watched him go.

* * *

They had all been instructed to attend lunch in the Great Hall for their first day of the project. Harry was having a very difficult time changing Caleb.

"What's taking you so long Harry?" Lavender popped in the doorway to check on Caleb. She just finished her shower and got dressed.

"He won't stop kicking!" Harry was frustrated. Caleb hadn't stopped moving or crying.

"Did you try soothing him? Give him a toy or something and he'll be okay. I'll get his diaper bag ready." She grabbed said diaper bag and went downstairs to put a bottle in it.

"Here you go little buddy…" Harry gave Caleb a stuffed animal. The infant smiled and started sucking on it right away, neither kicking nor screaming.

In Ron and Hermione's room, Hermione didn't approve of the walls of her little changing cubicle. They worked like a sheet – you could see shadows through it. She only realized because she saw Ron go behind his before she started changing.

"I can see your shadow, you know," Ron told her when he finished. "Did you know they're not light-proof?"

"Yes, I saw your shadow earlier. I don't like it. But I suppose it's better than nothing… Go watch Amari, Ron!" she remembered, "Harry and Parvati are busy! Nobody's watching her!"

"I'm going!" Ron said. With one last glance at Hermione's shadow, he headed downstairs.

Amari was waiting in a little purple dress on the couch, reading a book with an hourglass on the front.

"What are you reading?" he asked her, sitting down beside her.

"_Mysteries of Time: Volume One_" she said automatically.

Ron wasn't interested in the book. "We're going soon, go put your shoes on and use the bathroom if you have to." He said. Mrs. Weasley always told him that before they went somewhere when he was little. She marked her page and went into the bathroom. He went and put his shoes on with her.

Harry came downstairs holding Caleb, fully dressed and fresh. "I hope Malfoy's stuck on diaper duty," he said darkly. Everybody came downstairs and they were finally ready to go.

"Well, let's go."


	9. 9: The First Assignment

**Chapter Nine – The First Assignment**

The Great Hall had only a few people in it when the Gryffindors all arrived, but it was all the sixth years. Both the Slytherin babies were crying. Blaise Zabini was holding his group's baby at arm's length, clueless as to what to do. His teammates, Pansy, Daphne Greengrass and Malfoy, were all looking irritated. Pansy was shaking her head, which was resting on her hand. Daphne was sitting a few seats down talking to Malfoy admiringly, holding their pet Knarl's leash.

A Knarl looks like a hedgehog, but is very distrusting. Knarls are known to attack people or people's property if you try to feed it anything. They obviously didn't do any research; Malfoy had a large gash on the side of his face.

The second group composed of Millicent Bulstrode, Crabbe and Goyle, looked very hopeless. Goyle was trying to get his baby to stop crying by making faces at it. The poor baby just cried harder. Crabbe looked as if he was sleeping and Millicent was sitting there, arms crossed and face only showing anger towards her group and their new creature.

Their little pet resembled a lobster, although it was gray with green spots. It was a Mackled Malacaw. They are supposedly very unlucky beasts, a single bite giving bad luck for about a week.

The Hufflepuffs had seven sixth years, so there were two groups; Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Justin Finch-Fletchley and Ernie Macmillan was one group and Zacharias Smith, Megan Jones and Wayne Hopkins was the second. Hannah was humming to her sleepy baby and Megan Jones was simply holding her own. Ernie and Susan were playing with their Kneazle and the second group's Hippogriff was standing outside.

Kneazles are little felines, with large ears, a lion-like tail and a spotted coat. They can lead its owner home if he is lost and can even act like a living Sneakoscope, detecting suspicious characters when need be.

The Ravenclaws were the least numerous. There were only four of them. Terry Boot, Mandy Brocklehurst, Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil were there together. Their Jarvey was wearing a muzzle, being held by Terry. They had what looked like an overlarge ferret, but they have the ability to talk. Jarveys usually only say short, rude phrases that annoy and insult people.

Padma seemed to be hogging the baby, playing with the little girl with her back to the others. She only looked up when the Griffindor group entered to wave at her sister.

Parvati waved back, "Hey Padma!" and she headed towards her.

"Hi Parvati! Aren't the babies cute?" Padma cooed. "This is Natasha!"

"I got a girl too! She's Jamie."

"Parvati, come on! We have to go sit down!" Lavender called.

As soon as the Gryffindors sat down, Dumbledore stood up. The Heads of Houses were sitting at the teachers' table, waiting patiently.

"I trust you've all met your babies and settled yourselves into your homes. If you have any problems, don't hesitate to ask your Head of House." He glanced over at the Slytherin table before continuing. "You will be mailed assignments by owl every Saturday. You will store the finished assignments in the cupboard under your stairs until the end of the project. Your babies will age slightly faster than normal. They will age one year for every month that passes. Your Heads have given instruction on birthdays. Are there any questions?"

Hermione shot her hand up right away. "Professor, how will we be graded on this project?"

"You will be graded on how well you take care of your baby and creature, if you have one, how well you keep your house, and if you succeed in completing your assignments. Your grade will lower if anything major happens. For example, if a child gets hold of a wand and receives injury, you will be penalized. Yes, Miss Patil?"

"What will happen to the babies at the end of the project?" Parvati asked. "Can we keep them?"

"This is the first time we gave this project. We will see if it's worth continuing. If we continue this project, you must give the babies back. If not, you can buy them from us. You can buy them in France, however, if we do continue the project. No more questions? Very well. Tuck in!"

Every plate along the table filled with food as other students came in and took their seats. Pansy and Millicent stood up immediately and went to talk to Snape.

"Professor, Blaise won't let me take care of the baby! He keeps saying he knows what to do, but…" Pansy said, looking at Blaise trying to calm the baby by rocking him way too hard.

"Who chose the teams? Crabbe and Goyle _cannot _take care of a baby! Look at Goyle! He's scaring the poor girl!" Millicent cried hysterically.

"Calm down, girls. I, personally, don't know how to take care of babies, but I trust you both can. I will talk to them so that they give you two your respectful babies."

Back at the Griffindor table, Ginny had just sat down. "How's the project going, Ron?"

"It's not as bad as I thought, being a project and all…"

"I told you, Ron! What did I say? I said it wouldn't be boring, didn't I?" Hermione teased.

"Yes, Hermione… Ginny, do you want to come see our house?" Ron said.

"Sure. Halloween's next week, you know. We're going to have a ball, do you guys have costumes?"

"I need a costume!" Amari whined.

"Don't worry, we need costumes too. We can all go! It'll be like… a family outing!" Hermione said happily. She was really getting into the mood of this project.

"That's so cute!" Ginny said. "You guys are like a family, aren't you?" it wasn't really a question. Ron's ears looked like they were going to catch fire – they were _very_ red. He was thinking about Hermione being a part of his family. Although he wasn't going to tell anyone, he liked the idea.

"Harry! Help me for a second, would you? Caleb's got my hair!" Lavender cried. The little boy had a very firm grip on Lavender's ponytail.

"Caleb, hey, let go…" Harry practically sang, trying to pry the baby's little fingers off Lavender's hair without hurting him. Finally, her hair was free.

"Thanks, Harry! I don't think I'd be able to take care of a baby alone without you, you know…" Lavender said, blushing.

"So, Amari, what do you want to be for Halloween?" Amari asked sweetly.

"Umm… What are you and Ron gonna be? I want to match you!" Amari asked them both.

"I haven't thought about it, really…" Ron answered honestly.

"Maybe we can be royalty?" Hermione suggested.

"Oooh! Like the king of the jungle! Ron can be a king lion, you can be a queen lion and I can be the little baby princess lion!" Amari said with a twinkle in her eye.

'Do I have to?' Ron mouthed to Hermione.

"We'll put that on the maybe list, okay? We'll see if we can find anything else." Hermione said to try and dissuade the little girl. "What about the three bears? We're only three, but we can take out Goldilocks…"

"Yea! I can be baby bear and you can be mommy bear and you can be papa bear!" she said, pointing at Hermione and Ron accordingly.

"Sure, It's better than-"

"Ron!" Hermione warned.

"It's better than… anything I can think of…" Ron was going to say it was better than the lions, but Hermione didn't want him to hurt Amari's feelings.

"Let's make him a little bee!" Lavender begged. "Please, Harry? It will be absolutely adorable!"

"If we have to, but I'm not going to be a bee!" Harry countered.

"You don't have to – we don't have to match Caleb… But I want to be a bee too. You'll just be the outcast!" Lavender was trying to persuade Harry into agreeing.

"What? Oh, fine… but nothing too bulky or embarrassing!" Harry caved.

"You two sound like a married couple, bickering like that!" Parvati joked. "We're all going to be characters of the wizard of Oz. I'm going to be Dorothy, Neville's going to be the Scarecrow, Jamie's going to be little Toto and Seamus and Dean are still fighting over the Lion and the Tin man. We're going to be great!"

"Why am I the Scarecrow?" Neville grumbled.

"You were nominated and everyone agreed. You didn't seem to mind…" Parvati answered.

"And anyways, the Scarecrow is in search of a Brain!" Dean bugged him. "I'm the Lion, Seamus is the Tin man, by the way."

"So, when's the next Hogsmeade trip?" Hermione asked Ron after their meal.

"I think there's one next Saturday…"

"But that's the day before Halloween!"

"Well I don't choose the days!" Ron said angrily. "It's not my fault! We can just ask McGonagall if we can go today or after classes sometime this week, okay? No need to get your knickers in a twist!"

"Fine. I'll go ask, you take Amari home, okay?" She stalked away without waiting for an answer. Ron stared at her, frowning.

"What's wrong Amari?" Ron asked Amari, who looked extremely frightened.

"Don't be mad at Mommy!" she started to cry.

"Mommy? I'm not mad at Hermione! It's okay, shh," he tried to comfort her.

"When Mommy and Daddy are mad at each other they're really mean… Don't be mad at Mommy, Daddy!" Ron was really confused. She had never called him 'Daddy' or Hermione 'Mommy'. She was really repeating what she had so many times when her real parents were fighting.

"It's alright, I'm not mad! Here, let's go home, we can plan out our costumes, okay?" Ron picked her up and continued walking. She nodded and buried her face in his shoulder.

"Where's Hermione?" their door asked. Apparently, she could hear and see everything that went on inside her room, so she already knew their names.

"She's gone to ask McGonagall a favor… Are Harry and Lavender here?"

"They're opening the assignment, you'd better go see!" Ron merely nodded and carried Amari through the front lawn and went into the living room. Sure enough, Harry was unraveling a letter from the leg of a school owl.

"Hey, Ron. What's wrong with her? Where's Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Hermione's going to ask permission to go to Hogsmeade before the actual trip this Saturday to shop for Halloween costumes." Amari was sleeping, so he laid her down on the couch. "Amari's okay – Hermione and I had a little argument and Amari's parents – according to her – are 'mean' when they're mad at each other. She thought we'd be mean and she even called me 'Daddy' and Hermione 'Mommy'! But I assured her everything would be okay."

"Aww, poor girl…" Lavender sympathized.

"Well, might as well read the assignment…" Harry changed the subject. "It says: _To Gryiffindor group A, you must make a _Confounding Potion _with ingredients from inside your property. Signed, Minerva McGonagall_"

"A Confounding Potion? I've never heard of it! If we don't know what it is we can't make it! He could've at least given us a book reference!" Lavender panicked.

"Hermione might know, we can ask her when she gets back." Harry comforted with an arm around her shoulder. She smiled at him and rested her head on his shoulder.

'Awkward…' Ron thought. This was a situation that he could tell he shouldn't interrupt. He picked Amari back up and brought her upstairs.


	10. 10: Tearful Stories

**Chapter Ten – Tearful Stories**

Amari woke up on the way upstairs.

"Ron?" she mumbled.

"Hey, you feel asleep after lunch." He said softly.

"Are you mad at Hermione?" she had obviously stopped calling them Mommy and Daddy.

"No, of course not! We argue a little bit sometimes, but even so, we won't be mean to you, okay? I promise."

She smiled. "Okay. Let's plan our costumes! We are all bears, but we need more!"

"You could have a dress if you want…Hermione could have an apron like Mama bear and I could wear a tie. What do you think?"

"You should have a hat that muggle magicians wear…"

"A top hat?" Hermione was standing in the doorway.

"Hermione!" Amari got up and hugged her guardian. "Are you mad at Ron?"

"Nah, he's always a dunce, but he'll always be my friend." She smiled at him. He smiled back. Amari smiled to both of them. Smiling party!

"Do you think I should wear a dress and a bear costume?" Amari asked Hermione.

"Sure – just being a bear without clothes is pretty plain!"

"Hey, 'Mione? What did McGonagall say?" Ron cut in.

"She said we could go tomorrow, seeing as there's no classes on Sunday."

"Did Harry tell you about the first assignment?" Ron asked. Amari was playing with her Barbies by then.

"Harry and Lavender were sleeping on the couch when I came in." Lavender hadn't removed her head from Harry's shoulder and they fell asleep like that. Caleb was sleeping in his playpen.

"Oh. Well, we have to make a Confounding Potion with ingredients we find on our property. That's all it said – none of us knew what it was, but we knew you'd know. You know everything!"

Hermione blushed. "Well, I do what I can…"

Ron smiled at her. "So… what is a Confounding Potion?"

She laughed. "Most of the drinker's brain will stop functioning. They won't be able to talk properly, or think for themselves. It's like they're one year old and don't know anything of what's around them – they depend on others to feed them, bathe them, tell them what to do, things like that. If you drank it, you would definitely be vulnerable, at the least."

"See? I knew you knew! I'm guessing you read that in a book?"

"Of course! The one downstairs, actually – the first one I read. Isn't that lucky? There's only one setback…" she said, biting her lip.

"What? What's wrong?" he asked worriedly.

"One of the ingredients is…a certain plant that you can only pick at the new moon!"

"What's so bad about that?"

"Well, one, the new moon was two days ago, so we'd have to wait a while for the next and, two, to get it you have to go deep, _very _deep, into the forest and climb a certain type of tree."

"That's a slight bump in the road… We'll get past it – we have until the next new moon to do it… Or the next one… Whichever we stop putting it off to… No problems!" he joked.

She smiled, "You always cheer me up…"

"Is that a bad thing?" he said, also smiling. She giggled.

"Oh, yes Ron! It's just terrible!" she said sarcastically and dramatically, giggling. Just when Ron was about to say something else, Lavender walked in, baby Caleb in her arms. He closed his open mouth with a sigh.

"Oh, hi Hermione. Why didn't you wake us up?" she asked, blushing.

"You looked so… _peaceful_… By the way, we can't do our potion until the next new moon. Good night," she finished, walking out of the room and into the bathroom. Lavender brought the baby into his room.

"Time for a bath then bed, Amari."

"But I don't need a bath!" she whined.

"Then just bed?"

"Fine!" she said.

Ron smiled and scooped her up and plopped her into her bed. "Good night."

"Nighty night." She said grumpily, folding her arms and glaring at Ron. He leaved her door open like she always requested.

She didn't lie down. She sat there, looking in the hallway.

"Harry?" she whispered – he had just passed her door.

"Hey Amari…" he said gloomily.

"Are you sad?"

"Just a little bit, no worries." He said, unconvincingly. He sighed sadly and came to sit on the foot of her bed. "This project is making me sad."

"How come? I'm having fun! Aren't you?"

"Sure, it's fun, but we're like a family… like parents and their kids, you know?"

"But families are good – Ginny thought so and Hermione."

"Well, Amari, I grew up without a family really. And remember when Parvati was worrying about her baby dying? Well, I've known a lot of people that died…"

Amari didn't say anything. She still wanted to listen. She cocked her head to the side questioningly. Harry understood and kept talking.

"Well, when I was a baby, a really bad wizard-"

"Who was it?" she interrupted.

"It was," he hesitated, "Voldemort."

"Who's he?" She asked. "What did he do?"

"He's really bad and kills people… He came and killed my mum and dad. They died to save me as a baby_…_" he breathed. He took another deep, shuddering breath and continued, "Then my dad's best friend – my godfather – was going to be like a dad to me but he died too. It was entirely my fault…" he couldn't hold it in anymore. He started to cry. Amari's eyes started to water too.

"It wasn't your fault, Harry. I don't think you should have said anything to Amari, she's so young!" Lavender came in. "It's okay!" she said to both of them.

He shook his tears away. "I still have the marauder's map and my Invisibility Cloak. That's good enough for me." He said more surely than he felt. Lavender smiled and went to tend to the now crying baby.

"What's a marauder's map?" Amari asked innocently. She knew what the Invisibility Cloak was, of course.

"It's a map of Hogwarts that my dad, my godfather and their two friends made when they were at school. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs they called each other. They could turn into animals!" he whispered dramatically to Amari. She giggled.

"Wow! What were they?"

"Moony – Remus Lupin – was a werewolf; Wormtail," he said disgusted, "Peter Pettigrew was a rat; Padfoot – My godfather, Sirius Black – was a dog; and Prongs – My dad, James, - was a stag."

"I think being an animal would be cool!"

"It's really hard, though… It took my dad, Sirius and Pettigrew six years to do it." He didn't know why, but he could talk so very easily to Amari. "They were all in the same year with my mum."

"My mommy and daddy are different years old," she said, just because. She thought about the magic around her. "Can you bring someone back from the dead?" she asked.

"No, you can't," Harry sighed. Amari saddened again.

"Harry!" Lavender hissed from the hallway. "Let Amari sleep! It's her bedtime, and yours. Good night Amari!"

"Night," she said without fuss. She was tired, now. "Night, Harry! Be happy!"

Harry smiled at her through the growing darkness. "You too. Good night."

* * *

Amari woke up the next morning to Caleb's cries with Lavender.

"Hi Lavender." Amari mumbled.

"Good morning, Amari!" she said cheerfully. "I'll go get Caleb, why don't you wait for me downstairs? I'll come make breakfast as soon as I get him." She pressed the button and Amari could now go downstairs. She picked up her book that she left on the table. _Mysteries of Time: Volume One._

'One can travel through time with a Time-Turner, certain spells, rituals and potions. The time travelers can engage in time travel themselves or be engaged by another witch or wizard. So, you can go into the past or future, bring someone into the present from the past or future or even grow older or younger with the different ways listed in this chapter.'

"What do you want for breakfast?" Lavender came downstairs. "I'll make pancakes, is that okay?" she asked at Amari's silence. The little girl nodded, turned a couple pages and returned to her reading.

'Time-Turners are powerful magical objects. They are very rare, and to get one, you need special permission from the Ministry of Magic. You can go through time easily with such an object, but going through time can become a bad experience. To use one-'

"Could you make sure everybody's coming down?" Lavender asked Amari.

She looked up from her book at Lavender. She wanted to continue reading, but the pancake smell was mouth-watering, she was hungry, and Harry was coming down the stairs. He was coming down slowly – after all it was 7:30 am on a Sunday – he had woken up with Lavender but had gotten out of bed slower.

Ron didn't hesitate to run full-speed downstairs toward the smell. The result: **CRASH**! They were both at the bottom of the stairs rather quickly.

"Ron!" Hermione scolded from atop the stairs.

"I smell pancakes, toast, strawberry jam and… oatmeal cookies?" his sense of smell was fantastic. Lavender was indeed finishing the pancakes, putting strawberry jam on some toast and baking cookies for later.

"Exactly. By the way, Ron, you're squishing Harry – you might want to get up…" Lavender warned.

With all his might, Harry pushed Ron off of him and got up. "Good morning to you too." Ron rolled over to the couch and hit a bookshelf corner on his way.

"You owe me a cookie, now." Ron told Harry, rubbing his head where the bookshelf hit it. Harry shrugged – it was worth it.

"Breakfast is complete! Bon Appetite!" Lavender rhymed. Harry went to help her with setting the table, grinning. Everyone sat down after a few minutes and then they all started eating.

"We all have to dress nice before we go to Hogsmeade. We're eating lunch there with our neighbors." Hermione said, smiling.

"Are we getting our costumes today?" Amari asked.

"Duh - That's why we're going in the first place!" Ron said.

"Okay, meanie!" she stuck her tongue out at him. He stuck his out back.

"Ron! You're just as bad, you know." Hermione scolded half-heartedly. She was rather content that they were 'bonding', no matter what they chose to do so.

After breakfast, Harry cleared the table off for dessert. Everyone had a fair share (except Harry – Ron took one of his cookies, as promised.) And went up to get dressed. Harry was particularly dreading buying a bee costume.


	11. 11: Early Winter

Chapter Eleven – Early Winter 

"When you said dress nice did you mean dresses and tuxedos nice or skirts and dress pants nice?" Ron asked Hermione on the staircase.

"Skirts, dress pants, nice shirts, even nice jeans. Nothing over the top," Hermione replied, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Amari will take her bath upstairs and Lavender, you bathe Caleb downstairs first. In the time it will take for everyone to bathe and get ready, we'll have enough time to shop for a while and have lunch."

"When and where are we meeting the others?" Harry asked everyone in general.

"It might take us all different times to get ready, so we're all going to meet at lunchtime at the restaurant," Lavender said.

Lavender brought Caleb into the bathroom downstairs and Amari went into the yellow one obligingly. Hermione had it all planned out. Since Lavender didn't want to wet her day clothes, she would shower after she bathed the baby. While she did so, Harry could prepare the baby bag. Amari, being a five-year-old, would get bored waiting, so she could play after she bathed herself. Ron didn't have a specific role during that time. He could just linger about, sing, dance or do anything that he wanted to do.

After Caleb and Amari were clean, Lavender and Hermione would help them get ready while the boys had their showers. The two girls could lay down their outfits while the boys were in the shower – maybe even the boys' outfits if they hadn't themselves – and it would go on. By the time Hermione and Lavender got out of the showers, the boys should be finished and can entertain the little ones while the girls got ready.

"Hermione!" Amari called from her bathroom. Hermione was already near the door; the little girl had forgotten to bring in a towel.

"Yes?" Hermione asked, coming in and laying the towel on the toilet seat.

"Mummy always washes my hair for me," she said shyly.

Hermione smiled tenderly. "Don't worry, I'll help."

Hermione washed Amari's long blond hair well while she made her Barbies swim around without interfering with the hair washing. After a while, the plug was pulled and Amari was wrapped in a big towel.

Caleb was proving hard to clean; he was splashing about playfully. He loved the water and the water toys. Lavender thought he was cute at first, but she quickly lost her patience.

"Sweetie, come on," she said, gently but firmly, "we have to go soon. Give Mommy the ducky…

Give me the duck, please?" with gentle prying, she took the rubber duck away. Caleb starting crying, but Lavender tolerated it and finally got him clean.

She brought him out around the same time Amari came upstairs.

"Everything's there other than bottles and baby food. I didn't want to put them in too early," Harry said, putting the diaper bag down and going into the bathroom. Ron went to have his too.

"What am I wearing?" Amari asked in her bedroom.

"I'll get your clothes while you dry off, okay?" Hermione said, looking through the little dresser and pulling out clothes. She gave Amari a baby-blue outfit. There was a short-sleeved shirt with a daisy in the middle, a jacket and a knee-long skirt.

Hermione laid out her own clothes while Amari got dressed. She chose black dress pants and a light, silky, brown, dressy shirt. She completed the outfit with a golden charm bracelet, golden locket and little gold earrings.

"Hermione! I'm done!" Amari called. Hermione went into her room to brush her hair. Just before Ron and Harry got out of the bathrooms, Hermione finished Amari's blond hair with a high ponytail tied with a blue elastic with a decorative daisy; simple, yet sweet.

The boys finished quickly and went into their rooms to change. As quick as he could, Harry put on his bottom half of clothing so that he could go watch Caleb while Lavender took her shower. Hermione went into the shower and Ron went to get dressed. Amari went to read her book downstairs, waiting for everyone else to finish.

Amari knew the girls would take a while – Avila always did. So, she picked up "_Mysteries of Time: Volume One" _again and read from where she had left off – Time-Turners. She didn't know exactly where she had been, so she started reading a paragraph on the second page.

'_When using a Time-Turner, it is very important to stay hidden if you are still in your time. If you go far into the past or future, you must be careful to not do anything to upset anything that has happened. In some cases, it is better to not go through time at all. To return to your time, you simply have to back up or advance time to a little while after you left your time. **(Example: if you use the Time-Turner at 3:00, you should return at 3:01 or later so that there aren't two of you at once.)**'_

"Everyone's almost ready, Amari," Ron said, coming downstairs. She marked her page and put the book down on edge of the table. She finished reading the Time-Turner section, but she was thinking about reading on.

"I just need to pee," Amari said.

"Go for it," Ron replied.

After Amari came out of the bathroom, Hermione came downstairs fully dressed, hair in a bun on her head, followed by Harry and Caleb and Lavender. Lavender was wearing nice jeans with a purple t-shirt encrusted with pink plastic rhinestones scattered about, her hair straightened and soft.

"Is it cold outside?" Lavender asked, looking through her coats, vests and sweaters in the closet.

"I'll check!" Amari said, jumping up and stepping through the door, opening it only a crack, blocking the outdoors from view. "It's a little windy," she said smiling, coming back in.

Lavender smiled thankfully at Amari and pulled out a black sweater and pink vest. Hermione looked at the little girl quizzically then went into her slightly smaller section of the closet to bring out her own warm pink coat.

"What do you boys need?" Hermione asked, going into their section.

Ron shook his head.

"We're fine, Hermione, thanks," Harry said, looking at his and Ron's dressy pants and black and white long-sleeved shirts.

"Boys," Hermione muttered, rolling her eyes, "Amari, do you want another jacket? A vest, even?"

She looked at Ron and Harry, smirked and asked politely, "Can I have my fluffy coat, please?"

"This one?" Hermione pulled out a blue coat. The arms were plain, but the area between the sleeves was puffed out. The puffy hood had soft, fake white fur around it. It was definitely warm inside. Amari picked out a warm one-piece snowsuit for Caleb and gave it to Lavender to dress him.

They all put their coats (other than Harry and Ron) and shoes on – blue boots with white faux fur for Amari – and stepped outside. It was snowing!

"I thought you said it was just a little windy!" Ron gasped.

"It is! See? It's not that windy," Amari said, laughing.

"I knew you should have gotten coats," Hermione said to the boys.

"We're perfectly fine, aren't we Harry?" Ron said. He never admitted he was wrong, even if it meant freezing.

Harry just nodded, shivering.

"Well, let's go." Lavender said. They all crossed their property to their talking door.

"Rather chilly, isn't it?" the door said.

"What is she talking about Harry? I'm not cold," Ron said.

Harry laughed. Amari was already half way down the hall going outside the castle.

"Coming?" she called, waving.

They all raced after her and into the real snow. It was beautiful. The two-inch-deep blanket of glittery white snow covered the grass and lay on the Thestral-pulled carriages waiting for them. The trees had a light sprinkle of snow on their still red and orange leaves.

"What are those?" Amari asked as they neared the carriage. She was pointing at the Thestrals and staring in awe.

"Thestrals," Harry replied, "You can see them?"

Amari nodded "Can't you?"

Hermione, Ron and Harry looked at each other in surprise. After all, you can only see Thestrals if you've seen someone die.

"I can," Harry answered.

"Well, I can't!" Ron said miserably. "Riding something invisible isn't enjoyable!"

"Why can't you?" Amari asked.

"Later, okay? We have to go soon," Hermione said evasively.

"Are they nice? Can I pet them?" Amari asked Ron, who was nearest, inching toward them cautiously. She planned on asking again why Ron couldn't see Thestrals.

"Sure - _you_ can see them," Ron said.

Amari started to pet one's silky spine. A chill went down her spine. She could feel the creature's bones and it felt eerie.

"Let's go, Amari," Hermione said softly, taking Amari's hand and bringing her into the carriage.


	12. 12: The Hogsmeade Restaurant

Chapter Twelve – The Hogsmeade Restaurant 

Amari was repeatedly changing seats to see all the surrounding at different angles. She would push Ron's leg aside each time until he lost his nerve.

"Would you sit down?" he yelled.

She scowled at him. "After pushing your legs ten times, you'd think you'd get the message!"

"She's right you know," Hermione said.

"You're siding with her? Oh, yea, great discipline!" Ron said sarcastically.

"You didn't ask her politely to stop, you just went and yelled at her. Oh, yea, great example!" Hermione mocked him.

"Yea, you didn't say 'please'!" Amari said, sticking her tongue out at him again.

Ron grimaced back and simply moved his leg to give her enough room.

"Did we pass anything?" Amari asked, pressing her face to the back window.

"We're here anyway," Hermione said as the carriage slowed to a stop. Amari smiled and tried to open the door.

"Let me out!" she ordered. The carriage was childproofed.

"Patience, Amari," Hermione said, opening the door and stepping out into the cold with the little girl. Amari stroked a Thestral while the others came out of the carriage. Hermione stared at her, thinking of the sad circumstance of being able to see one of those winged horses.

After treading through the snow that was now falling very heavily, they ended up at a robe shop. In October, they had plenty of different materials for sale, from silk to dragon hide. They even had a little stall of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes products.

Amari went straight to that display. She put on a hat. "Look! My head's gone!"

"I think we should go as bears with heads, don't you?" Hermione said, looking at the price tag indicating '6 galleons each'.

"We should just get Polyjuice Potion with bear hairs in it, it would save money…We know how it works with cat hair," Ron sniggered. Hermione made sure to stomp on his foot before joining Amari where there were dresses. Ron's face was contorted in pain as he followed. Harry and Lavender went with Caleb to another section to find black and yellow material.

"What color?" Amari asked Hermione, looking through the little dresses.

"How about a shade of brown, after all, you are a bear," Hermione suggested.

"Can I help you with anything?" an employee popped out from behind a clothes rack and asked politely. Hermione jumped at the sudden appearance.

"Please do, before they start asking my opinion," Ron said, sitting on a bench.

"We're going to be bears with different accessories…" Hermione started. After an hour of shopping, Amari and Hermione got one-piece light brown outfits with magical bear ears they could move and use, and faux fur light brown gloves and boots. Instead of a dress, Amari got a faux fur vest and a glowing necklace. Hermione got a little apron to complete her costume.

"Your turn, Ron!" Amari said after changing back into her clothes. She held up another one-piece suit for him to put on.

"I'm not wearing that!" he objected.

"We are," Hermione said, coming out of her own changing room. "Unless you want to be Goldilocks."

"As a guy, I think I should have a slightly different costume… Maybe a little less tight and darker even!"

"No. Put it on, Ron!" Hermione said, pushing the costume into his arms.

"I won't. That just screams humiliation! You can't make me put that on!"

"Can't I?" Hermione pulled out her wand.

In another fifteen minutes, Lavender and Harry got themselves costumes with black skin-tight sleeves and pant legs, black and yellow bee bodies including protruding round behinds, flappable wings and antennae, Caleb got a pouffy bee costume with rounded antennae that he can play with and fully functional wings that can support him in the air for a couple minutes and Ron had his tight one-piece including bear ears, tie, top hat and faux fur boots and gloves.

Let's just say the boys were less happy than the girls were…

"Oh my god! We're going to be adorable! We're going to win if there's a contest!" Lavender cooed. Caleb clapped his approval.

"I'm hungry… Is it lunchtime yet?" Ron asked.

"Like always," Hermione said, looking at her watch, "It's already noon! Come on, let's go!"

They all ran past many shops and into a restaurant. It was rather quiet; Parvati, Neville, Dean, Seamus and their baby were the only ones there. Amari held onto Hermione's hand tighter and looked around the room, fiddling frighteningly with her locket. She felt uneasy.

"What's wrong, Amari?" Hermione asked, noticing the firm grip of the little hand in hers.

"I'm scared…"

"It's alright! It's just a slow day. Now, come on, let's go eat." They all went and sat at the big table with their neighbors.

"Finally! What took you guys?" Parvati asked when the others sat down.

"Ron didn't want to try on his costume," Hermione sniggered. Ron rolled his eyes.

"When has there ever been a restaurant in Hogsmeade? I don't remember it at all." Harry asked suspiciously.

"They just opened… You have to make reservations in advance to come here. It doesn't make sense, though. They're not getting many customers." Hermione answered.

"Do you wish to order yet?" a waiter came and asked. They all ordered their meal and the man left.

"Where's the bathroom?" Amari asked. Ron looked at her in disbelief.

"You always have to go to the bathroom!" he complained. "You went before we left!"

"Well she has to go again. And so did Jamie, didn't you?" Parvati said to the baby girl giving off a putrid smell. "Come on, I'll bring you."

Amari got up and stayed close to Parvati. She didn't like the emptiness of the restaurant at all. Or the silence. She would never think back and consider it as paranoia, even if others did.

"Why's Amari so tense?" Seamus whispered to the others. "Did something happen?"

"Not that we know of… Did you know that she could see Thestrals? I really hope she's had an ok life. She's only five! That's not right." Hermione answered.

Seamus nodded and sat, relaxed, in his chair. But he was snapped out of his relaxation by a scream coming from the bathroom.

"Amari! Parvati!" Ron yelled, getting up and running toward the bathroom. The other boys joined him, all coming to a stop before the now open girls' bathroom door. A hooded figure came out, holding Amari by her waist in the air with its left arm, pointing a wand at the little girl. Another figure came out, ushering Parvati forward with its wand.

"Let me GO!!" Amari screamed repeatedly, kicking.

"What do you want?" Harry asked coldly.

"Put your wands down." The man ordered. "Do it!" he raised his voice, bringing his wand-tip closer to Amari's face. She stopped screaming and stared at the wand fearfully. They all lowered their wands. "Good. Now, I'm willing to make an exchange."

"Harry! It's Draco's daddy! Now I know why he's mean!" Amari cast her captor an evil look. And it was Lucius Malfoy indeed; he'd just taken his hood off.

Neville gasped. "You're supposed to be in Azkaban! You were arrested last year in the Ministry!"

"Enough!" Malfoy snarled. "The Dark Lord has his ways. I came here for one reason and one reason only. To bring the Dark Lord a certain someone for a little meeting, by any means necessary." All in a split-second, many Death Eaters came and encircled the teen boys and prodded Hermione and Lavender into the circle, blasting away tables.

"You're pretty low, holding a little girl hostage!" Parvati yelled, trying to buy some time. She spat on the floor to emphasize.

"Considering who is in your company, I wouldn't speak or others being low. Mudbloods and Blood traitors. Despicable. And you aren't in any position to talk like that, girl." Malfoy said, pointing his wand at Parvati instead. Amari took that chance and bit his arm, getting free and running out of the circle. "NO!"

She went straight out of the door into the blinding snowstorm, luckily not being hit by the many spells and curses sent her way. She could see the castle's silhouette, just barely, and headed towards it for help.

In a flash of red light, many Death Eaters were stunned and on the ground. The students took the chance to run in all different directions, trying to go out the door. Unfortunately, The Death Eaters left standing were all near the door from chasing Amari unsuccessfully and started to reawaken their allies.

"In here!" Dean yelled, going into the boys' bathroom. The others ran in after dealing with a couple obstructions. Breathing heavily, Hermione sealed the door as much as she could.

"Is one little window too much to ask?" Ron said angrily at the absence of windows in the little bathroom.

"Everything's in Amari's hands now…" Lavender sighed, sitting against the door. "I just hope the door stays closed…"

"It'll be fine, we can renew the spell. But we can't get out unless the Death Eaters leave and I don't think they will very soon. Let's hope Amari can find this place again." Hermione said.

"Hermione, how did you find out about this restaurant?" Harry asked suddenly.

"Parvati told me about it."

"I'd gotten a letter," Parvati said, "and it had a coupon for a free reservation. So, I used it."

"Who was the letter from?" Harry asked her.

"It wasn't signed, I thought it was a promotional thing to advertise…"

"That's why they won't accept someone without reservations – they can control the amount of customers! It was a trap from the beginning!" Hermione realized.

Everyone felt the same thing in their hearts – hope that Amari can get help.


End file.
